Irena's Jars of Secrets

Description:

A picture book biography of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who helped save nearly 2500 Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II.

Brief description:

Ron Mazellan is the illustrator of several award-winning picture books. He is also a professor of art at Indiana Wesleyan University. Mazellan was drawn to this story by Irena Sendler's character and her multiple selfless acts of kindness and courage toward those who had little hope of survival. Mazellan lives in Marion, Indiana.

Review Quotes:

"Vaughan and Mazellan (You Can Be a Friend) have created a fine piece of historical storytelling, with brisk, reportorial prose and shadowy, impressionistic oil paintings that offer gripping testimony to the full horror and high stakes of the times." -- Publishers Weekly

"Vaughan tells the true story without embellishment, employing stark, unadorned syntax that never wavers into pathos, sentiment or myth. It is a definition of quiet heroism.... Powerful." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Mazellan's dramatic oil paintings--mostly in appropriate dark, somber grays and browns--cover most of each spread, leaving a buff-colored strip to hold the succinctly written, yet descriptive, text that can be understood even by those who have little or no knowledge of World War II or the Holocaust." -- School Library Journal

CCBC Choices - Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award - Gelett Burgess Center
Land of Enchantment Book Award Shortlist - New Mexico Library Association
Sydney Taylor Book Award - Association of Jewish Libraries